Why The Airbus A350 Has Quickly Become A Favorite For Airlines, Pilots & Passengers

Video from the channel Long Haul by Simple Flying about Airbus A350, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 8:36. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.

A review of the reasons why the Airbus A350 has won over airlines, pilots and passengers, preceded by a brief history of the programme.

Airbus conceived the aircraft in 2004 as a rival to the Boeing 787 and started from the A330. Market reactions led it to an entirely new design, marketed as XWB (extra wide body) and with an exclusive engine, the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB. There are two versions, the A350-900 and the stretched -1000; the -800 was abandoned for lack of interest. Qatar Airways received the first -900 in December 2014 and flew from Doha to Frankfurt on 15 January 2015. The -1000 flew for the first time in November 2016, and Qatar introduced it on the Doha–London route in February 2018.

The cabin is pressurised to an equivalent altitude of 6,000 feet (about 1,830 m) and is 5.61 m wide, about five inches more than the 787's. The new NPS production standard gains a further four inches. Some airlines, such as French bee and Air Caraïbes, fit ten seats per row in economy class. According to the UK Civil Aviation Authority, the aircraft is up to 6 dB quieter on takeoff than the A330 and the 777. Cathay Pacific estimates it burns 25% less fuel than the previous generation. The flight deck has six identical large screens and shares a type rating with the A330: the transition requires eight days of training without a full simulator.